BellSouth

Studies indicate the mobile phone industry may be in for more alarming churn figures as increased competition threatens to erode carriers’ customer bases. Richard Siber, associate partner with Andersen Consulting in Boston, expects the industry’s churn rate to average between …

NEW YORK-Denmark-based Bosch Telecom Inc., which introduced the World 718 phone in June, has decided to close its Dallas office for U.S. sales and marketing, although it will continue selling the handsets here. The World 718 phone can operate on …

Northeast Communications of Wisconsin Inc. announced it acquired U.S. Cellular’s Marathon County operations. Cellcom, the company’s wireless subsidiary, will provide cellular and paging services. Marathon County will be the fifth Wisconsin county served by Cellcom and the second metropolitan service …

WASHINGTON-Marcia Spielholz, the California woman whose emergency 911 cellular phone call went unanswered in 1994 during an attempted auto theft in which she was shot in the face, plans to amend her class-action lawsuit against Los Angeles Telephone Co. next …

Palm Computing Inc., an affiliate of 3Com Corp., introduced the Palm VII personal digital assistant at the Palm Computing Platform Worldwide Developer Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., featuring out-of-the-box wireless connectivity to the Internet, World Wide Web and instant two-way …

NEW YORK-The rapidly growing prepaid wireless sector offers carriers a means to reduce customer acquisition costs and capture market segments otherwise out of reach. Nevertheless, prepaid has its problems and its critics. Proponents of prepaid, however, argue solutions are readily …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. said it has developed an affordable, network-based solution to help wireless carriers meet the Federal Communications Commission guidelines for Phase I compliance for wireless enhanced 911 call processing. The Phase I solution recently was made available to carriers …

More legal issues have fallen in the way of Venezuela’s plans to tender a personal communications services license earlier this month. Conatel, Venezuela’s telecom regulatory agency, was set to tender a license by Nov. 4, but protests from three cellular …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Mobility DCS said it is offering a two-in-one service that allows customers to answer their wireless calls using either their personal communications services handset or their home or business phone. 2N1 Number Service allows two customer-designated numbers-one PCS phone …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. announced plans to repurchase up to $3 billion worth of its common shares in 1999. The company’s board of directors also increased its quarterly dividend by 2 cents to 38 cents per split common share. In addition, the …

NEW YORK-John T. Stupka, president and chief executive officer of SkyTel Communications Inc., said a BellSouth Wireless Data L.P. advertisement that’s been running in the Wall Street Journal, as well as in other newspapers, is misleading but nevertheless welcome. The …

LAS VEGAS-GoAmerica Communications Corp. announced it will offer J.P. Systems Inc.’s NetCradle in its Web@Hand product portfolio, extending Internet access to personal digital assistants made by 3Com Corp. The GoAmerica bundle will include the NetCradle, with a wireless PC card …

WASHINGTON-A critical European Parliament vote last week, which could effectively mandate a third-generation mobile phone standard dominated by Sweden’s L.M. Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia Corp. and lock out American technology, will ratchet up the stakes in upcoming negotiations here among …

This holiday season will see an unprecedented number of mobile phone competitors in the market, but carriers still seem unwilling to compete with break-neck pricing as they aim to keep average revenue per user at high levels. It’s a “digital …

WASHINGTON-While this week’s election of Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.) to speaker of the House is not expected to dramatically change the course of telecom policy making in Congress, a wholesale shakeup in GOP leadership could alter the political …

SEATTLE-Qualcomm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. made good on their promise to converge the computing and wireless industries when they announced the formation of WirelessKnowledge L.L.C. last week, a joint venture many say will revolutionize the wireless data industry. WirelessKnowledge aims …

NEWBURY, Berskshire, England-Vodafone Group plc said it purchased from BellSouth New Zealand the national New Zealand GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) cellular network and related assets. BellSouth New Zealand is a partnership of BellSouth Corp. and Singapore Technologies. The …

NEW YORK-Nickel cadmium batteries, long the mainstay of rechargeable power sources for wireless phones, are fading fast into handset history. Today, nickel metal hydride batteries are emerging at the top of the charts, but this ranking may not last too …

KIRKLAND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it plans to brand the AT&T name in Los Angeles by next year. The company recently gained management control of Los Angeles Cellular under an agreement with BellSouth Cellular Corp. to consolidate ownership of …

KIRKLAND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it plans to brand the AT&T name in Los Angeles by next year. The company recently gained management control of Los Angeles Cellular under an agreement with BellSouth Cellular Corp. to consolidate ownership of …

Rural Cellular Corp. Rural Cellular’s revenues increased 103 percent to $34 million from $16.8 million during last year’s third quarter. Net loss for the quarter totaled $4.5 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with net income of $621,000, or …

PENSACOLA, Fla.-BellSouth Mobility Inc. launched personal communications services in northwest Florida, including Panama City, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala and Tampa. The company’s licenses in northwest Florida include Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. The expansion will allow BellSouth Mobility customers …

Cellular carriers have made significant progress in their efforts to upgrade their 800 MHz analog networks to digital technology. Consumers’ appetite for digital features is demonstrated by the success of digital pricing plans such as AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s Digital …

Aggressive digital pricing plans are quickly driving the migration of customers from analog service to digital service, say analysts. “We attribute today’s successful migration directly to rate plans combined with solid products,” said Richard Siber, head of Andersen Consulting’s wireless …

SAO PAULO, Brazil-Despite its drive for a competitive and liberalized market, Brazilian regulatory agency Anatel finally succumbed to market pressures and postponed to Jan. 15, the tender of licenses to operate one long-distance and three fixed-line “mirror,” or competitive, companies …